Hello and welcome to my latest blog. As I mentioned in my
previous piece, I have recently started volunteering at my local nature reserve
and with the weather significantly improving, the flooding which had thwarted
much of my efforts on an earlier visit had largely disappeared. It was such a
joy to be serenaded by an assortment of bird songs while I worked, however
despite my best efforts to locate the culprits, the long reed beds concealed
them perfectly. Rabbits scampered over the grassland a mixture of playful and
exuberance and nervous energy constantly alert to the slight rustle in a nearby
bush or an unfamiliar scent which may betray the presence of a predator. And
while watching all of this I still kept a faint hope that I may just catch a
glimpse of one of the resident otters perhaps lurking on the river bank. It was
not to be. However there's always next time for that ambition to be realised.
That missed sighting
"Can't you see it"!? "No. Where ?!"
"It's just disappeared can't believe you didn't see it". We've all
had conversations similar to that haven't we ? When you chose to look away at
precisely the moment something you would desperately not want to miss suddenly
presents itself and then just as quickly disappears. This happened again only
the other night having been picked up from the train station after a long day
at university. I was distracted, thoughts of whether the data analysis for my
dissertation required a chi square test or not were still bouncing around my
increasingly scrambled mind, the pressures of the final year are taking its
toll. So when I glanced out the passenger window my attention was not fully on
the potential for wildlife sightings.
Then my brother spoke "Did you see that? Defiantly an owl, the size, the
way it flew I'm sure that was a tawny owl". No was the answer to his
question I hadn't. Distracted, the owl had flown right across the road into the woodland and out of sight. That was
pretty galling. I've seen barn owls before and heard plenty of tawny owls in
the woodlands near our home but have never seen one, concentration levels must
be improved !
British birds part 2- Brilliant Buzzards.
What a makes a walk in the countryside so special for you? The
crisp crunch of fallen autumn leaves underfoot while wrapped up against the
bracing elements? or maybe it's the arrival of spring where the foxgloves and
bluebells are starting to make an appearance flourishing after winter has lost
its vice like grip. Personally no outing is complete without hearing the
trademark mewing call of most abundant raptor in the United Kingdom, the
Buzzard. Effortlessly soaring the skies above Britain, this stunning bird now
listed as green status on the conservation list with between 57,000-79,000
pairs breeding in the United Kingdom, has made a remarkable recovery from the
dark days of persecution. Like so many other birds of prey, the buzzard was
also severely affected by the use of pesticides in the 1950's and 60's with
populations only recovering once their use had been banned, and now the species
has breeding populations in every county in the United Kingdom. This beautiful
bird has been the victim of its own success however leading to the licensing
of nests to be destroyed in 2013. Personally this was a decision that made my
blood boil. The sight of a buzzard on perched on a lamppost, captured in all
its glory by the sun’s rays, surveying its territory, or perhaps looking for it’s
next meal will always be one worthy of many an admiring gaze for a bird that
can populate so widely and show such adaptability and resolve in the face of
such adversity over the decades deserves nothing less than the utmost
admiration and respect.
Extinct species:
Five facts on the Woolly Mammoth
1) The tusks of the woolly mammoth were absolutely enormous,
measuring up to fifteen feet in length on the largest males. It is thought the
predominate reason for their size was to act as a sexual characteristic the
larger and curvier the tusk the more appealing they were to females.
2) Their ears in contrast were small, meaning that the
surface area of skin exposed to the elements was as minimal as possible.
3) The woolly mammoth was one of thirteen species of mammoth
to belong to the genus Mammuthus primigenius.
4 ) A sparse population of woolly mammoths clung onto
existence on Wrangel Island off the Siberian cost before finally disappearing
around 1700 BC and with their demise meant the complete extinction of woolly
mammoth.
5) Debate has sprung up surrounding the woolly mammoth since
it has appeared it could be possible to clone them via the harvesting of DNA
and then incubating the fetus in a living pachyderm.
Information sourced from the work off Bob Strauss.
Did anyone see this ? pretty amazing that is for sure.
That's all from me for now thanks for reading
George :)
Twitter @ReallyWildWykes
Email
grwykes@gmail.com
grwykes@gmail.com
